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“Save Me, Stranger is a devastatingly poignant collection of short stories from an author who somehow understands what it's like to run, to hide, to try to get away, to live in fear. How does she know so deeply, so surely what it feels like to need help? Amidst the fear and pain, we find humor, too. And we discover that people are willing to step forward to help each other, even in a world that seems selfish and cruel to the extreme. The author loves short stories (as do I). In a letter she stated, 'I think of short stories as the streakers of the literary world; they flash by, showing you everything, but only for a second.' I agree. But sometimes, as she likely knows, those are the stories that stay with us the longest. Enjoy this emotional gift of a book either in print or in audio. I will be doing both!”
— Linda • Auntie's Bookstore
From EDGAR-AWARD WINNING author Erika Krouse, a VISCERAL, DAZZLING collection of stories set across the globe about characters desperate for salvation
“Far-ranging and visionary collection...A dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise.” —ADAM JOHNSON
“Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” —LOUISE ERDRICH
Erika Krouse's debut memoir, Tell Me Everything, was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “lyrical, jarring, propulsive,” and the Washington Post as “mesmerizing on every page.” Now, with an electrifying new collection of stories, Save Me, Stranger, she further cements her reputation as an essential voice.
From the coldest town on earth to a sex shop in Bangkok to a haunted bed-and-breakfast in the Rockies, we meet characters at hinge moments. A runaway fights for her future while driving an ice-cream truck in gang territory; a cleaning woman investigates the teenager who died in her stead; a terminal patient in Alaska discovers new life in helping others die. This collection explores the borderlands between humor and hurt, community and self, and hope and despair, redefining what it means to survive.
Scalpel-sharp, unsparingly funny, and achingly wise, Krouse's expansive stories build to unforgettable emotional catharses, as these men and women must decide how far they are willing to go to save one another—and themselves.
Erika Krouse is the author of the memoir Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, winner of the Edgar Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Housatonic Book Award; the story collections Save Me, Stranger and Come Up and See Me Sometime, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Patterson Fiction Prize; and the novel Contenders, a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Krouse's fiction has been published in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ploughshares, One Story, and more. She teaches creative writing at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop and lives in Colorado.
Reviews
“Fierce and unforgettable…These no-holds-barred stories often feature young women in trouble, sometimes of their own making but more frequently not…While danger lurks around the corner for all of Krouse's characters, sometimes compassion saves the day."
—Booklist (starred review)
“Krouse is gifted at capturing her characters’ dueling frustrations, needs, and fears. A smart set of globetrotting, emotionally gripping stories.”
—Kirkus (starred review)
“Affecting…Poignant…[Krouse] makes the thrill of new beginnings palpable.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.”
—Louise Erdrich, author of The Sentence and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award
“In this far-ranging and visionary collection, Krouse extends the reach of what stories can do, delivering a dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise. Save Me, Stranger is at once a treatise on tender moments and a symphony of storytelling.”
—Adam Johnson, author of Fortune Smiles and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Story Prize
“I really enjoyed this book. Some of its remarkable power is that the stories alternate between embodying epiphanies and valedictions—sometimes a quick goodbye, but always with an authenticity that convinces the longer it lingers. They’ll stay in your mind.”
—Ann Beattie, author of Onlookers and winner of the PEN/Malamud Award
“It is always a thrill to encounter a new and wildly capable imagination. Each story here is fully-realized and also a portal into a new landscape, and I read with appetite, marveling at Krouse’s range and storytelling chops.”
—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade and winner of the Alex Award
“The protagonists at the heart of this collection seem to hang, fingers clinging, on a high precipice, while the reader stands above in judgment and care, both at once. In our lonesome, suspicious times, Save Me, Stranger made me feel that there’s hope yet for our wretched souls. I’ll be thinking about these stories for a long time.”
—Vauhini Vara, author of This is Salvaged and a Pulitzer Prize finalist